Former Hopewell teacher sentenced to jail for sexual contact with two students

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A former Beaver County high school teacher who pleaded guilty last year to inappropriate sexual contact with two female students has been sentenced to between 1 and 2 years in jail.

Joseph Rubino, 38, of Aliquippa, in November pleaded guilty to five charges in one case and three in a second case and will face two years of probation after his release from the Beaver County Jail, Common Pleas Judge Richard Mancini decided Wednesday.

"He's happy that there's finally closure in the case," said his attorney Steven Valsamidis. "It's been a long, trying ordeal."

The former Hopewell High School science teacher was charged on Jan. 22, 2013, with felonies tied to having inappropriate and illegal sexual contact with a minor female student.

A continuing investigation found he’d had inappropriate contact with another female student at the school, Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane said at the time, prompting a second set of charges about two months later.